Cynthia Nixon Reveals How Magda Would React To And Just Like That...

From Aidan’s romantic return to Samantha’s buzzy cameo, And Just Like That... Season 2 is bringing back all the fan favorites — well, almost all of them. There’s one familiar face fans have been missing in the Sex and the City revival: Miranda’s housekeeper-turned-nanny-turned-unlikely friend, Magda.

Sadly, there’s a real-life reason for Magda’s absence. Lynn Cohen, who originated the role of Magda back in Season 3 of the original series, passed away in 2020 before And Just Like That... was announced. But as Cynthia Nixon tells Bustle, the actor is fondly remembered behind the scenes. “We certainly do speak of her and miss her,” Nixon says. “She was an incredible performer, but she was more than that — just an incredible person and citizen in every way.”

Nixon says the show has “discussed” working Magda’s memory into the script. “But we haven’t really found the right way for her to come up [yet],” she explains. However, that hasn’t stopped Nixon from imagining how Magda might have reacted to the events of And Just Like That... Season 1, namely Miranda’s affair with Che Diaz and her decision to end things with Steve.

“I know Magda — as much as she loved Miranda — she would have been very upset to see Miranda running out on Steve and the marriage breaking up,” Nixon says. “She would have given Miranda an earful about that. You can be absolutely sure of that.”

“[Miranda] would have found a way to help her understand,” Nixon adds, but the actor is right. It wouldn’t have been easy! Since her debut in Sex and the City Season 3, Magda never shied away from passing judgment on Miranda’s personal choices — like when she casually replaced her client’s nightstand vibrator with a Virgin Mary figurine.

But over time, Magda and Miranda developed their own kind of understanding with each other. And Magda became a serious shipper of Miranda and Steve, displaying a knowing smile after catching the pair in the closet at Brady’s first birthday party. Later, in the series finale, Magda was touched to see how Miranda cared for Steve’s mom, Mary, who recently had a stroke. As Magda told Miranda, “That is love. You love.”

Given how thoroughly Magda became a part of Miranda, Steve, and Brady’s life, it’s easy to imagine her working with the family well into the future. “[She’s] like my grandmother,” Cohen told Cosmopolitan in 2018. “Till the day she died she was scrubbing the floors. She was taught that work is the most important thing in life, and working with people that you love is a way of showing love.”